Resources
30 August 2010
Posted in
Blog
The current recession is adding to the burden of all professionals. We need to communicate more with our clients and their other advisors. Attorneys, accountants, bankers, financial planners, insurance agents; all of us have more to do just to stay even. This means even more time in the office and more work at home, right?
Wrong. As I write this, I am fishing in Eastern Canada (over 3000 miles from my office). If I need to review a client's trust, check a tax return, securely communicate with a client or the client's advisors; no problem. I am in touch with my office and have direct access to client information no matter where I am. As one of our licensees said: "FamilyOfficeNetwork is more than a valuable tool, it has become our online satellite office and contains 200+ clients currently... I call it the "beach project," it allows me to conduct business from any beach with internet access." Beach or river, you can be more effective anywhere in the world. The tools are out there to make us all more efficient, it's just a matter of us implementing them correctly.
05 August 2010
Posted in
Blog
Most professionals want to grow their practices. Yet few do a very good job of it. Professionals are not trained in marketing and often feel it is “un-professional” to market or ask for a referral. Thus, obtaining referrals is largely a passive effort. In our meeting with clients and other advisors, we hope to impress them with our knowledge or what a nice person we are and hope they will think of us the next time someone asks for a referral to someone like us.
Think about how many attorneys and accountants that you know and are friendly with. How many other financial advisors do they know? Probably as many of your profession as you know of theirs. What are each of them hoping for? The same thing as you! And what is your attorney friend hoping for as he has lunch with each of your competitors? A referral.
It’s not enough to be a friend. It is not enough to somehow present yourself as being better than your competition. Everyone will claim that. You must find ways to distinguish yourself as being DIFFERENT from the crowd.
Advisors who focus on investment performance, financial planning process, or being “fee only” will not distinguish themselves from their competitors. If you want to be different from your competition you must define your unique value proposition. Ask yourself “what do my clients most need from me that they don’t get from their other advisors? What do their other advisors need to make their jobs easier? What are the things that I am most passionate about that would benefit others? And, how can I most effectively deliver my unique value to my clients and my referral sources?”
The best way to find out what your clients and advisors need is to ask. Design a set of actions for your clients and advisors and interview them face to face. Be sure to ask what their interest is in the services you are most passionate about offering.
Find unique new ways to deliver your services. Connectivity is a big factor. Facebook, YouTube and blogging have changed the way we acquire information. If you’re still using FAX and email to communicate with your clients and their other advisors you are not unique or adding value.
21 June 2010
Posted in
Press Releases
New
MarketCounsel’s Registered Investment Advisers now receive special discounted offers on FamilyOfficeNetwork solutions
San Diego, CA – June 22, 2010 –MarketCounsel, a leading provider of comprehensive business and regulatory consulting services to independent registered investment advisers, today announced an alliance with FamilyOfficeNetwork, a software-as-service provider that enables advisors and their clients to securely share and store files on the Web.
23 March 2010
Posted in
Press Releases
San Diego, CA –March 23rd 2010– FamilyOfficeNetwork®, an industry leading provider of advisor-client portals and collaboration tools, announced today that it has partnered with ByAllAccounts, the leader in financial account aggregation for professional use. Advisory firms using ByAllAccounts’ solutions are able to retrieve, enrich and consolidate reconciliation-ready account data from any external custodian, and can now view all of their clients’ account data electronically through FamilyOfficeNetwork’s secure client vaults.
“We are very excited about partnering with ByAllAccounts,” said Pete Wheeler, founder and managing director of FamilyOfficeNetwork®. “As a practicing wealth manager, I know the amount of staff time required to reconcile data to create consolidated client reports. Not to mention the administrative costs involved in sending final reports to clients. Now all advisors have to do is aggregate, report then post to FamilyOfficeNetwork and see their bottom line increase while their printing and paper costs go down.”